The Tethered Fibrillar Hydrogels Brushes for Underwater Antifouling

Abstract

The development of antifouling surfaces to prevent bioattachment is an urgent demand for marine coating and biomedical applications. In this paper, two types of anionic and zwitterionic gel fibers are synthesized based on anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) substrate and their antifouling properties against oil and algal attachment are systematically investigated. To begin with, gel surfaces exhibit underwater superoleophoic property and extremely low oil adhesion. The effect of electrolyte on underwater wetting behavior is studied. It is shown that the adhesion of oil droplets on gel fibers significantly increase upon immersing in electrolyte solutions and ionic surfactants, which could be attributed to electrostatic screening effect of salt solution and ion‐pairing interaction. Notably, in regard to Dunaliella tertiolecta and Navicula sp., almost 90% and 95% decrease of fouling algae density are achieved for P(AA/SPMA) and P(AA/SBMA) gel fibers, respectively, comparing with AAO substrate for control. The excellent antifouling property and high structural stability of gel fibers make them effective antifouling surfaces.

Synthetic Polyampholytes as Macromolecular Cryoprotective Agents

“…To further explore the effect and role of charge in cryoprotection, a neutral polybetaine (PSPB), − was compared with a copolymer (PSPBA 60 ) containing betaine and 40 mol % excess anionic charge and the polyampholytes, as shown in Figure . PSPB with zero net charge gave post-thaw cell viabilities of less than 10%, similar to those observed for PDA 45 .…”

The toolbox of porous anodic aluminum oxide–based nanocomposites: from preparation to application

“…The surfaces showed underwater superoleophobicity with ultralow oil adhesion, which are usually observed for prohibited algae adhesion. This kind of gel surface is promising for usage in bio-adhesion industry or as antifouling coatings [129]. In addition, complex topography could also be built on AAO membrane by adopting the same strategy.…”

Recent Advances in Bioinspired Gel Surfaces with Superwettability and Special Adhesion

“…The resulting structured gel surfaces exhibiting underwater superoleophobicity have been widely used to design advanced antibiofouling surfaces (Figure 9c). [115] They introduced anionic 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate (SPMA) and zwitterionic SBMA polymers into the PAA hydrogel network to synthesize fibrillar hydrogel surfaces (P(AA/SPMA) and P(AA/SBMA)) with a length of 3-4 µm and diameter of ≈100 nm. [114] The SiNWA-PNIPAAm surfaces exhibit significantly reduced adhesion of platelets, compared with smooth PNIPAAm surfaces.…”

“…The SiNWA–PNIPAAm surfaces show underwater superoleophobicity and low oil‐adhesion, indicating that the nanostructured surfaces can retain a relatively high ratio of water content, which is responsible for the primarily reduced adhesion of platelets. Zhang et al fabricated fibrillar anionic and zwitterionic hydrogel brushes using anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) as a template to improve the antibiofouling property . They introduced anionic 3‐sulfopropyl methacrylate (SPMA) and zwitterionic SBMA polymers into the PAA hydrogel network to synthesize fibrillar hydrogel surfaces (P(AA/SPMA) and P(AA/SBMA)) with a length of 3–4 µm and diameter of ≈100 nm.…”